Coaster Kids

I'm new here, so please accept my apology if this is an old topic.

I was just curious. How many of you have coaster kids? My kids were 7 and 9 on their first rides, ending that 1st day with Shivering Timbers. Followed, with extreme joy that they love coasters, with SFGAm that following weekend. My son CRIED that he wasn't tall enough for the big ones. My daughter's 1st day of experiencing the big steel-she logged 12 rides on Raging Bull! (Glad that part of our genetics went to them!)

Since then-all of our vacations are based on if a park is close. We have been mostly west with them-I think what they've done so far is pretty impressive! They have already been on 75 different coasters. (And we haven't taken them to CP yet!) My daughter is 12 and my son is only 10! I only realized that after they asked if we could make a web page with our rides so they could easily show their friends. When I actually put all the info together (we always kept track of each ride, and how many times) I was really surprised! Someone commented the other day that they will probably end up on Discovery Channel some day as record holders. Which brings this question--is this really that out of the ordinary? Are they on the way to something really big?? It has taken me 24 years of riding to get up to 147 coasters-they're half way in 3 years!!!

My daughter is 6. (she turns 7 in November) and currently has 86 coasters on her track record.

It's funny that you mention Discovery because my wife and I were just talking about something like that.

My Daughter will hit 100+ this summer still at the age of 6 and certainly there has to be some interest in a goofy little statistic like that.

Anyone with suggestions on who to contact that may be interested in catching a 6 year old scoring their 100th coaster?

Earlier this month Revenge of the Mummy was my 10-year-old's #80. He has actually been on nearly 100 different coasters but the spreadsheet we're using only counts park coasters (we live in Florida so we have plenty of traveling fairs -- we don't count those). He will hit #100 in two months after his first trip with us out to the West Coast.

It's funny that you should mention Discovery Channel. Two years ago Dateline NBC wanted to follow us around on our summer trek as we drove through a few parks (IOA, Carowinds, Holiday World, PKI, PKD) for a feature on summer travel. We went through the whole interview process, made sure our mugs were camera-friendly, but then MSNBC found a family that was traveling in May (we were going in mid-June -- which would have cut it close for their late June deadline) so we had one less camera crew to lug around our trip!

But, by and large, I'm guessing that all three of us in this thread and far from the norm. Most of the coaster enthusiasts here -- and on this board -- who make it a point travel beyond their local haunts seeking thrills are kidless. Let's see if all of our kids thank us when they get older!

Or let's see if we can all bold together and pitch a new reality series. . .

Coming in Fall 2004 to TLC, they're young, they're wild, they're looking to get grounded if they keep asking for more honey mustard for their chicken fingers. . . they're The Coaster Kids!

Any of you interested in adopting a 16-year-old (17 in June)? I, unfortunately am the only one in my family with the interest so I don't really get a whole lot of rides in. I think I have only ridden 47, and it was probably 25 two years ago. It sounds like your kids are pretty lucky, I'd be happy just to travel like they have, but to stop at nearby parks would be really cool.

Make sure they realize it's not the norm, I don't think it is.

My daughter is 6 and has 52 coasters under her belt as she just hit the 48" mark last november. My son is 7 and has (I think ) 79 different coasters. We still have HW- IB - PKI - CP - MIA- HP for starters to hit to add more to her record so I think they will both be at around 90 before summer 2004 ends.

Paging Ms. Uhing...

I have coaster neices and nephews...does that count? ;)

My 6-yr-old nephew Connor [the same one who gave me my nickname] is fearless. If he meets the ride requirements he's riding. His last new coaster was X and he can't wait for Tower of Terror to open.

I know kids like ours are far from the norm. I'd bet the average, non-enthusiast human doesn't even come across 86 coasters in their lifetime. My kids thoroughly enjoy it, but I do suspect that once they're adults they'll shy away from it. Just the nature of growing and change.

The height thing has worked to my daughter's advantage. She's always been tall. She's sitting at 51" right now.

I just did a little math and figured that she'll hit 100 in June. Assuming the next few months go as planned (and they never seem to):

May:
Dollywood (3 new coasters - total 89)
Idlewild (2 new - 91 total)
Lakemont (5 new - 96 total)
DelGrossos (2 new - 98 total)

June:
Williams Grove (3 new - 101 total)
Hersheypark (3 new to her - 104 total)

If she skips any rides or we don't make one of those trips, we plan on being at PKD the day after Hershey, so she's bound to hit 100 there with their 12 coaster lineup.

I still think there's some kind of "human interest" story there. I'll have to do some calling around, I think she'd be into it. Still if anyone has any ideas beyond the normal Discovery, Ripley's or Guinness suggestions, I'd like to hear them. I wonder if any of the coaster publications would be interested in running a story?

At the very least maybe we can get together and pitch "The Coaster Kids" to some TV execs ;)

My son was fearless at age 4 when I took him to CP for the first time and was on every coaster, including Magnum. He'll be 18 in a month, but lack of funds has kept his (and my) track records down as we haven't traveled as much as we'd like to.

He's been to SFGAm, Holiday World, MiA and Geauga Lake (1992). This year he'll be adding PKI and SFKK, and another trip back to GL.

Mine start calling me at work on Thursdays: "Dad, where we going this weekend??".

My son is 12 and has ridden 307 coasters. My daughter is 10 and her count stands at 176. The height thing did her in for a while. The first summer she was over 48" we drove to NYC to ride the Cyclone. She didn't get to ride because the Cyclone's height requirement was 52". She was devastated.

We have put our Six Flags, Paramount and Cedar Fair season passes to good use over the last few years. Couldn't have done it without them.

I tell mine to remember "grandpa" when they take there kids on a road trip someday...

"The first summer she was over 48" we drove to NYC to ride the Cyclone. She didn't get to ride because the Cyclone's height requirement was 52". She was devastated."

My nephew has faced the same thing, so I feel your pain! If there was ever a perfect example of "check first" that's it. Hindsight is 20/20, eh?

mOOSH

FWIW.....CI Cyclone is a perfect example of a coaster that *does* need the height restriction...I'm not so sure I'm tall enough to ride the back seat, LOL...;)

There's NOTHING like it when I run into a kid at a park who's really *jazzed* about riding. The girl that Dawn, Tina and I "adopted" at Lake Winnie was fantastic, and it made the day just that much better to have her hang out and ride with us....:)

I'm sure bASS remembers the girl and her mom that took the final ten laps or so on Great White with us.....

bill, awaiting (patiently?) responses from LoriU AND Frank...talk about "Coaster Kids"...:)

My girls are 16 and 18. Both have been riding since they were single digit ages and have over 100 coasters each.

i only got 44 at 14...and thats from going to all the parks in florida and cedar point and hershey and great america. i don't ride kiddy coasters.

Hey are you my evil twin coasterqueen? ;-)

Welcome to the board! Two coasterqueens are better than one. ;-)

-Tina

Trust me, Tina...you two are not the only two coaster queens on CBuzz ;)

LOL! I figured so Moosh. ;-)

If you include Gator there's at least three of you! Nasai makes four. Dawnmarie makes it five...Danny+ and TecknoScorpion makes it seven. Did I miss anyone? ;)

The attack of the Queens! woohoo!

Oh, there's Invy Jim.........:-D

-Tina

Frankly, Tina, pretty much anyone named Jim is a coaster queen ;)

mOOSH [expecting retaliation soon]